For a writer of "literary" fiction, Michael Chabon sure gets around. Beginning with the genre-bending Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay in 2000, he's hopped from comic book screenplay (Spider-Man 2) to old-fashioned detective story (The Final Solution) to crime noir (The Yiddish Policeman's Union). In his latest foray, Gentlemen of the Road (Del Ray; $20) -- originally serialized in The New York Times Magazine -- he takes on a medieval world of warriors, weapons, and warlords in the grand tradition of Michael Moorcock and Fritz Leiber.

Provisionally titled "Jews with Swords," the entire undertaking has the air of a man on a lark. It's the story of two rogues -- a scarecrow-like physician/horse thief/schemer named Zelikman, and Amram, his imposing African Jew partner and kindred spirit -- on a quest to restore a deposed ruler to his throne. The plot itself is humdrum fantasy fare, but there's plenty of Chabon's idiosyncratic characterizations and wacky plot devices like hat fetishes and anthropomorphic pachyderms to keep you interested. Reading it is a bit like watching a flamboyant hibachi chef so enthralled with flipping knives and creating fireballs that he neglects the food itself, resulting in a palatable yet prosaic meal that's somehow less than the sum of its parts. Still, it's always refreshing to watch Chabon take on something new, and avoid taking himself too seriously in the process.